With a bye week and games against FIU at Marlins Park and at Duke to finish the regular season, the Miami football team needs to focus on what is in front of them and not worry about all the outside speculation about any games beyond those two.
The win over Louisville last week was the sixth of the season for the Miami football team. That qualifies the Hurricanes for a bowl game. Speculation from various websites including this one over the past few weeks about how Miami can qualify for the ACC Championship game or what bowl game they will play in.
There are two full weeks of ACC Football remaining before the Miami football team plays in their last conference game of 2019 at Duke in two weeks. So many scenarios have to occur between now and then that Miami needs to focus on FIU next weekend and then playing the Blue Devils in two weeks.
Miami has to win the game at Duke to have any chance of winning the ACC Coastal Division and a trip to Charlotte. They could be eliminated by the time the sun goes down on Saturday. The litany of events that have to occur for Miami to have a chance begins Saturday in Atlanta. Virginia Tech has to lose to the Yellow Jackets.
Miami Hurricanes Football
A win by the Hokies on Saturday eliminates Miami from the race in the ACC Coastal. If Virginia Tech does lose to Georgia Tech Saturday they would have to lose again to Pittsburgh a week later. Miami needs Virginia Tech to defeat Virginia November 29 and have Pittsburgh lose at home to Boston College November 30
The Hokies have beaten the Cavaliers 15 straight times so that might be the least far fetched of the scenarios. That is five scenarios that have to occur. The game times for November 30 have not been determined yet. Virginia and Virginia Tech play on November 29 which is the day after Thanksgiving.
Miami will almost definitely know its fate by the time they play Duke. The Boston College Pittsburgh game is the only one that will be played on the final Saturday besides Miami to have an impact on the ACC Coastal title. With a young team, the Hurricanes get to rest and watch other games this weekend and then play FIU next weekend. That takes some pressure off UM.
Miami will get a chance to impress the bowl committees against FIU. They cannot worry about that though and Miami head coach Manny Diaz is likely to instill in his team to just be concerned about what is in front of them on the field and to go out and play their games. The bowl projections are numerous.
The most common has Miami playing California in the Sun Bowl in El Paso with Kentucky in the Music City Bowl in Nashville next. The Bears are currently 5-4 and the Wildcats 4-5. Miami has played in the Sun Bowl twice. The Hurricanes have never played in the Music City Bowl. Miami is 0-1 against Cal and 0-0 vs. UK in bowl games.
The Hurricanes lost to the Bears 24-17 in the 2008 Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, just 12 miles across the bay from Cal’s Berkley Campus. Miami and California have split four games total in the all-time series. Kentucky leads the all-time series with Miami 5-3, but the Hurricanes have won the last three meetings.
Miami and Kentucky have not played since 1963. The Wildcats outscored the Hurricanes 107-11 in the first four meetings under Hall of Fame Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant who later won six national championships at Alabama. Kentucky dominated in their more recent win in their series 22-3 in 1959.